Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, the Memphis couple whose story of their relationship with Michael Oher was told in the film “The Blind Side,” claimed in court filings this week that Oher, who has accused them of shortchanging him of millions of dollars over decades, attempted to extort $15 million from them.
In the latest back-and-forth between the parties,
documents filed Monday with the Shelby County Probate Court show that the Tuohys are seeking a denial of Oher’s motion for a temporary injunction that would prevent them from using his name, image and likeness. Their filing claims that his NIL, which would require him to be paid, is not used for commercial purposes, only in what is considered “fair use” of the retelling of the family’s story and that granting the injunction would violate their First Amendment rights.
Their filing quoted bits of texts and emails from the former Mississippi and NFL offensive lineman, including, according to the filing: “it was 10 million now I want 15 million after taxes.” They claim he threatened to talk with the press about his allegations, setting a deadline by which he said he was going to “tell the world how I was robbed.”
In arguing against Oher’s request for a temporary injunction, the Tuohys claimed that he is “a part of their personal and family story; it is not commercial speech in the form of an advertisement or solicitation. The protected speech in question is designed to encourage ordinary people to make a difference in the lives of people like Mr. Oher.”
The 37-year-old Oher, who played for three NFL teams before retiring in 2017, came to live with the Tuohys as a teen and his rise to a first-round draft pick by the Baltimore Ravens in 2009 was the topic of a 2006 book and 2009 movie. Lawyers for Oher and the Tuohys have not responded to a request for comment on the latest filing.
Around the time of his retirement from the NFL, the petition states, “perhaps because he was no longer making significant amount of money as a professional athlete, Mr. Oher became increasingly estranged from the Tuohys, believing incorrectly that they had not paid him the money he was owed.”...............
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